Happy Anniversary, VeganWeekly!
It’s been a year of writing, re-writing, exploring and experimenting. Now, it’s time to reflect and look ahead to year #2
My VeganWeekly newsletter is now a year old.
I initiated the project with an ambitious hope to inspire more people to cook delicious and healthy vegan food consistently throughout the year. I honestly didn’t know what kind of response I would get…or worse – not get.
I knew the topic of vegan food and cooking was increasing in its popularity. Vegan recipes were suddenly everywhere I looked. Many established food writers and journalists began writing about vegan food and incorporating their recipes into more articles. And more ‘internet-certified’ chefs and nutritionists began writing more about vegan food and cooking. The space was becoming crowded – saturated even. How was my project going to find enough eyes ‘out there’ to keep me enthused enough to know I’m not just putting words into the wind?
I’m still not certain how I will inevitably answer that question of reach…or even if reach matters all that much. What I’ve learned during the past year of writing every week is how much I love being able to speak directly to readers without worrying about hidden agendas like pleasing advertisers or promoting a product I’m not really into. People exactly like you…who may be searching for a trusted voice in an otherwise saturated space. People looking for a roadmap of what to eat and how to prepare something that simply tastes great.
I want to drop into your kitchen and quietly whisper helpful tips and ideas into your ears!
I started the project by importing into Substack my small (but enthusiastic) community of 154 followers. As of today…one year into this project…my words and photos reach 613 subscribers – a modest number that grows daily.
Speaking directly to you and offering my knowledge and experience about vegan food and cooking is what keeps me going – I intend to keep moving forward and to keep bringing interesting and helpful articles to you each week. My sincerest thanks to each and every one of you who chose to support my efforts – and perhaps even shared my work with your own community!
Here’s to corn – again!
My first newsletter I wrote and published for VeganWeekly happened on the 31st of August 2021. I wrote about corn and why I thought it is an ingredient worthy of more than simply corn-on-the-cob. I included recipes for how I made my Grilled Corn Salsa with Avocado, a decadent Garlic and Corn Soup that no one will ever guess (or care) is vegan, and my vegan take on making a simple Skillet Cornbread.
Because it’s Vegan Weekly's anniversary and I’m a bit of a romantic at heart, I decided to read what I wrote one year ago. I didn’t like it much. I discovered errors…and more importantly, I made some recipe changes. So, I updated the entire post…which you can read here:
The most popular post I wrote during the past year was Choosing the Right Plant-Based Milk Alternative – although my most recent post on How I Turned Mayonnaise into Mayo is quickly heading toward most-popular honors.
My favorite post I wrote was my bit on creating My Vegan Shortbread Creations. I thoroughly enjoyed this post because…well…I got to eat the subjects and I’m a self-confessed cookie-lover – especially the shortbread kind of biscuit that gently melts in your mouth and tickles every one of my sweet taste buds.
Now it’s your turn. Head over to the Archives section if you’re new to VeganWeekly and have a look at everything I wrote during the year. Is there a particular edition you enjoyed? What helped you the most in your own kitchen? Take a moment and leave a comment below…I would really enjoy reading your thoughts on what I’ve written and published this past year!
Looking Ahead…
Change is inevitable…and I choose to embrace change in my life and in my work.
During the course of the next few weeks, I plan to make a few changes to VeganWeekly. It’s mostly site maintenance and creating some new features that will hopefully bring more value to this project. The changes include the following:
Subscriptions will include a payment option for one year, one month and superfan supporter. In addition to my standard offer available to all free subscribers (a weekly newsletter with 2-3 recipes), paid subscribers will gain access to 2 new offerings – a once per month recipe exclusively covering all things VeganSweets and access to a special recipe archive that includes easily accessible lists and printable recipes broken out by category – kind of a monthly electronic cookbook from everything I publish. Superfans gain everything plus full access to my website (myfreshattitude.com) which houses absolutely everything, an exclusive 60-minute online session with me, and first notice of anything else I might publish.
These changes will not, in any way, affect information currently going out to free subscribers – so no need to panic.
Other changes that are being worked on and planned include a (monthly?) 30-minute podcast and a VeganTraveler section. These new offerings will be available to all free subscribers.
Substack is a platform that is constantly changing and improving. I always take a close look at these changes as they filter down to me…and incorporate whatever makes sense so I can continue figuring out how to inspire more people to cook delicious and healthy vegan food consistently throughout the year.
What I’m Reading on Substack…
Substack is a wonderful platform to discover talented and interesting writers who value working independently without the support of advertising money or corporate sponsorships. Here’s a list of some of the writers I’m choosing to support by taking the time to read their work:
The Barracks
Elderberries
Release and Gather
Three Small Smiles
Both are True
Jo’s Epistolary
Eat This, Drink That
Fog Chaser
Midweek Crisis
Yoga and Breathwork with Taming the Walrus
The Art of Freedom
Chocolate and Cherry Babka
I like the imagery that plays in my mind when I hear the word babka. I see a young child screaming in delight as grandmother carries the twisted sweet bread out of the old kitchen. How many other foods can so completely delight both ends of the age spectrum? And how many other foods are so perfectly named (babka means grandmother in Polish)?
A babka is an old Jewish recipe made from an enriched bread and filled with something sweet – most notably fruit jams and spices. The twists in the bread create visually stunning interiors – each as a unique as a fingerprint. These breads are versatile; there’s great latitude in creating distinctive variations by using whatever ingredients are available…anything from apples to zucchini.
My recipe uses ingredients familiar to another classic dessert: the Black Forest Cherry-Torte. I use black cherry jam (with chunks of fruit) and combine it with rich, non-fat cocoa powder and ground hazelnuts to create…well, in my opinion, the perfect filling for a babka!
Difficulty: moderately difficult
Yield: makes 8-12 servings
Ingredients
500 grams (one pound) all-purpose flour
60 grams (1/4-cup) unprocessed rapeseed oil
300 ml (1 ¼-cups) unsweetened soy milk
7 grams (1 envelope) dry instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
250 grams (8 3/4- ounces) chunky black cherry jam
25 grams (1/4-cup) cocoa powder
100 grams (3 1/4 ounces) ground hazelnuts
1 tablespoon whisky (optional)
Oil and soy milk mixture for glazing (see tips below)
Make the dough first by combining the flour, oil, soy milk, yeast and sugar in large mixing bowl. Mix and knead the dough for 2 minutes, then add the salt and continue to knead the dough for 7 minutes. The finished dough should be slightly moist, almost fatty to the touch. It should be smooth, elastic and should not stick to the surface. Keep kneading until you reach this consistency – it will take about 10-12 minutes (think of it as meditation). Place the dough into a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to double in size – this usually takes between 60-90 minutes. You can tell it is fully fermented when you gently poke it and a slight indentation remains in the dough.
Make the filling while waiting for the dough to ferment. Combine the cherry jam, cocoa powder and hazelnuts in a bowl. Stir and fold the mixture together to mix all the ingredients. The filling should feel slightly wet and spreads easily without running. Adjust the consistency by adding a bit more hazelnuts if it is too wet or some liquid (whisky) if it is too dry. Set aside until the dough is ready.
Preheat the oven to 190°C with circulating fan (375°F). Prepare a large cake pan with a removable bottom (see tips for options). Line the bottom with baking paper and oil the sides of the pan.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a clean, lightly floured working surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle that is about ½-cm (that’s pretty thin – about the thickness of a pencil). Spread your filling evenly over the dough (you might have a bit too much filling – just use it for something else), leaving an exposed edge about 2-cm (1 inch) along the top length. Begin from the long edge closest to you and roll the dough into a log – it should be relatively tight and the seam should face down. With a bread knife, slice the dough into equal halves lengthwise, making sure to keep one end intact. Now let’s do the twist. Start on one end and twist one part of the dough over the other. Just continue this twisting braid, and always make sure to keep the cut side of the dough facing upwards. You should have a twisted braid of bread. Lift the braid gently and place it in your prepared pan, forming a circle with an exposed center. Place this pan in a large plastic bag and allow the bread to ferment an additional 30-45 minutes (the dough should feel soft when pressed).
Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the bread during the last 10 minutes or so if it looks like it is getting too dark.
Remove the bread from the oven, cool for 15 minutes and release the sides of the cake pan and transfer the bread to a rack to cool. Use your glaze at this point and create some shiny goodness. Make sure to cool the bread for at least one hour before digging in!
Tips and Variations
This recipe works best with finely milled, high-starch flour…the usual profile of an all-purpose flour. You can make the bread with whole wheat flour, but just use about 50% and mix in 50% all-purpose flour. Using only whole wheat flour will cause this bread to become too dense…and it will be unpleasant to eat – even with an outstanding tea.
I chose an unprocessed rapeseed oil for this recipe because it is more viscous than other oils. It also has a pleasing butter-like aroma when heated and that works very well in this case. You can substitute extra virgin olive oil if you don’t have access to unprocessed rapeseed oil.
The cherry jam you use is important. It needs to be a bit on the thick side and ideally, it should have large pieces of cherries in it. Use dark or sour cherry jam.
The use of whisky is optional. I like to use a small amount of liquid to loosen the filling ever so slightly. Water will also work, or even kirsch if you prefer.
When the babka comes out of the oven, it needs to have a glaze to give it a shiny appearance. You can do this by combining 2-3 tablespoons oil (rapeseed or extra virgin olive oil) with ¼-cup soy milk. Alternatively, you can make a classic glaze by heating ¼-cup apricot jelly and diluting it with a few tablespoons of water or lemon juice. Both work in this recipe.
You don’t have to use a round cake pan. You can use a large loaf pan if you like, or just work freestyle. I like using the round cake pan because it keeps the bread in a nice shape during fermentation and baking.
Discover more delicious vegan food and cooking ideas at myfreshattitude.com.
Thanks for reading!
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Congratulations on year one and THANK YOU for all your inspiration and help in the kitchen. Even if it's virtual now, I love having time in the cooking zone with you! Can't wait to try making your Chocolate Cherry Babka and always looking forward to what you share next.
Happy anniversary and thank you all the great tips, ideas, advice...